Kirst Afloat

Langkawi

The family and I are staying at a FANTASTIC villa in Langkawi, Malaysia.  We have our own private pool which the kids LOVE!  Tom and I both agree that the floor plan of this place is outstanding.  There are two bedrooms, two ensuite bathrooms, an outdoor shower connected to the master bath, a huge living/dining room, kitchen, maid's room, maid's bathroom, a study, another bathroom (which also has a shower) and a large foyer area.  There is also an outdoor patio, a sort of Malaysian sala (okay, I know that a sala is Thai---there is a Malaysian term for this---it begins with a "b" and is kind of long---but it escapes me at the moment) and another outdoor shower.

Anyway, the villa at the Westin Langkawi is great as is the breakfast.  However, the hotel part of this place is a mixed-bag and the beach isn't as nice as "our beach" in Phuket: Nai Harn.  The rock pool was a hit with our family, though.  James swam for the first time without his bubble in the rock pool today.  Yea, James!  This is going to be his summer to become a swimmer.  (Last year, he just sank when you pulled off his flotation devices.)

Kids are begging me to turn off their tv and put them to bed.  Will blog more later/tomorrow.

HKIS Waiting List Update

I still haven't heard anything about Claire and James' HKIS applications.  Last year, they both qualified but no places were available.  This year there have been rumors that there is not wait list left, etc.  I spoke with Admissions about a week ago and there was no news.

Just checked the HKIS website and copied this excerpt of the From the Head of School's Desk, dated April 21, 2009:

HKIS Enrollment for the 2009-10 School Year

We are carefully monitoring enrollment trends for the 2009-10 academic year.   We have a wait-pool of some 850 applicants, which is encouraging.  Of that number, over 200 have applied from overseas US-accredited schools; 115 are siblings of currently enrolled students; and approximately 100 applicants are from overseas schools (non-US accredited). To date, 93% of our current families have re-enrolled for the upcoming academic year.  This high percentage will mean we are not able to accommodate every applicant in our wait-pool.  Exactly how many new students we can enroll is still uncertain.       

This is not encouraging for our situation, to say the least.  I am at peace with my kids staying at their current school for the next academic year but Claire will then be a fourth grader AND she can only stay at her school through fifth grade.  Not sure what our fall-back plan will be...I really do NOT want to move back to the US because we cannot get a school place for our kids.

Updated WIHO Schedule for MegaIce 5's

Wednesday, 6th May 2009:-
Game 1 – WIHO vs CCHA Warriors (Canada team) @ 4:35 p.m.
Game 2 – WIHO vs Empire Skates Play Ladies (other HK team) @ 9:10 p.m.
 
Thursday, 7th May 2009:-
Game 3 – WIHO vs Japan @ 3:20 p.m.
 
Friday, 8th May 2009:-
Game 4 – WIHO vs Thailand @ 4:40 p.m.
 
Saturday, 9th May 2009
If we place 2nd or 3rd, then we play at 7:30 a.m.
If we place 1st, then we are in the finals playing at 4:45 p.m.

2009 MegaIce 5's - Women's Division

I'm looking forward to the tournament which begins on May 5th. 

Last night was our last practice before the tournament.  We will have one scrimmage (with the entire team, including overseas players) beforehand.  Being able to practice together this year is definitely an improvement over last year.  I'm also excited that I won't be jetlagged this time around.  (Last year, I arrived back from a "around the world trip" the night before the tournament began.  Cathy graduated from Michigan and then we went to Athens, Santorini, Athens, Dubai and back home to Hong Kong.  All in 12 days!)

The teams this year are:

WIHO (Women's Ice Hockey Organization) We're sponsored by Daikyo.  I haven't seen our jerseys yet, but the sketch looks FANTASTIC.

Empire Skates Play Ladies (also from Hong Kong).  I'm not completely sure who's on this roster but I know that Vonnie Ong and Aggie Chin (who I played with pre-children) have organized the team.

CCHA Warriors (Canada).  From what I've determined, the Warriors are from the Canadian Chinese Hockey Association in Ontario.  I'm looking forward to playing against the team as well as meeting the players.  The only information that I could find online is here in Rink Ink.  (I'm not 100% sure that this is related to the team coming to HK but it looks probable.) 

Japan  Not the same exact team that we played last year but I believe this team contains quite a few of the same players.  A couple of women here in Hong Kong will also join this team as well as Alexis Orgera (a Canadian living in Korea who I met last year).   

Thailand  Not sure if this will be the same team that came last year it was a combined Thai/Malaysian team.  It will be interesting to find out, though.

Our tentative schedule:

Wednesday, 6th May 2009:-
Game 1 – WIHO vs CCHA Warriors (Canada team) @ 5:15 p.m.
Game 2 – WIHO vs Empire Skates Play Ladies (other HK team) @ 9:55 p.m.
 
Thursday, 7th May 2009:-
Game 3 – WIHO vs Japan @ 3:20 p.m.
 
Friday, 8th May 2009:-
Game 4 – WIHO vs Thailand @ 4:40 p.m.
 
Saturday, 9th May 2009
If we place 2nd or 3rd, then we play at 7:30 a.m.
If we place 1st, then we are in the finals playing at 4:45 p.m.

Misheard Lyrics

It always interesting when a person mishears lyrics.  Sometimes it's because the singer doesn't enunciate clearly (think Van Morrison, for example) and sometimes it's because the listener isn't familiar with the ideas in the song (think my kids) and sometimes it's just because the listener "hears" something different (for some other reason).

Some of my favorites:

• "Portraits...the boys in the band ordered portraits".  Boat Drinks by Jimmy Buffett

Heather had an epiphany when we lived together in Florida. I was singing along to this song and she suddenly exclaimed, "Boat Drinks?  Boat Drinks!  That makes so much more sense.  I always wondered why the boys in the band where at the Sears Portrait Studio getting portraits."  (Hel-lo!  The title of the song IS Boat Drinks---just a bit of a hint.)  I always think about Heather's alternative lyrics when I hear this (and I always smile).

• "If you wanna be my mother".  Wannabe by The Spice Girls

James always sings "mother" instead of "lover".  It must make a lot more sense to the under six crowd...my friend's daughter, India, used to sing the same wrong lyrics when she was little.

• "Oh she's vegetarian...oh she loves me so, she hates to be alone, she don't eat meat but she sure likes the phone"  New Age Girl by Dead Eye Dick

I kind of helped this misheard lyric along.  Claire (thankfully) has no idea that even though Mary Moon is a vegetarian, she sure "like the bone". 

• "I be smokin'.  "Smokin' to the eat, smokin' to the west, smokin' with girl that I like the best. Strokin' by Clarence Carter.

This is another Claire lyric.  Again, I'm happy that she thinks Clarence Carter is a chain smoker.  (Actually she mentioned something about the fact that he was smokin' because he was hot.  I then asked, "Do you think smoke was coming out of his ears?")

Claire's Party: Bowling at the RHKYC

For the second year in a row, Claire had a bowling party at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.  It's a great venue and an easy party for parents.  Even more importantly, the kids all have a great time.  The bowling alley at the Yacht Club has been renovated since last year's party...not only is the decor new and improved but (if you rent all four lanes) you can experience "Extreme Bowling".  Basically most of the lights are turned off and there are black lights, flashing LEDs and other cool effects.  About 30 minutes into the party and without warning, Extreme Bowling came into play.  Dead silence at first from the kids and then lots of cheering.  It was a HUGE hit!

Claire's party was a bit smaller this year.  She invited 17 kids and 14 attended (three were still on Easter holidays---one in France and the other two in New Zealand).  It was a lot more enjoyable for the parents this year.  In fact, we all bowled while enjoying some Veuve Clicquot. 

One funny occurrence:  While making the first ceremonial cut of the cake, Claire cut diagonally to create a triangle.  The cake was then whisked away to be cut by the staff.  We had a laugh once the pieces of cake were handed out to all the guests: every piece was triangular.  Claire has vowed to cut a more complex shape next time (if she has another bowling party) to see what happens.  Pentagon, anyone?  Circle?  C-shape???

As you may have noticed from the photos, Claire was very happy during the party and had a wonderful time.  She was also thrilled with her gifts.  She loved all of the books she received (she's already finished three of them), bookstore gift vouchers/cards, opal earrings, games, craft kit and a watch.

Claire's 9th Birthday Cake

Just finished it...the party is this afternoon at the Yacht Club. 

Claire's design: 

A big purple "C", a bowling ball and four bowling pins on vines with leaves.  She requested a light blue cake.

The finished product.

The Helmet-less Husky

 

A great photo taken by Norm Bo's friend, Kelvin Leung. This was during the first period of our game 3 semi-final vs Wendigos.  I was hit hard (by the Wendigo player in blue whose skate is near my face) and my helmet came off.  (That's a first. You can see the helmet in mid-air just below the skate in my face.) 

We lost 1-3.  I intend to write a longer post later this weekend about the game.

In the Zone

Have you ever known that whatever you were about to do was going to go your way?  That you were "in the zone", "had your mojo back" and couldn't wait for them to "bring it on"?  That's what I felt like last night before my game.  Getting to MegaBox was a bit of a nightmare due to the public holiday (Easter Monday) and the end of the MegaBox Computer Fair.  Eventually I made it up to the carpark and had to drive up to the 16th floor to park.  Then I hustled down the escalators to the rink on the 10th floor.  But I felt "on".  And I was.

It was Game 2 of the semi-finals: Huskies vs. Wendigos.  We had to win or we were out.  And we were down a complete line due to people being away for the long weekend.  And what a game...Mark Garvie scored his first goal and Dennis Liu had the game winner.  He had a breakaway and was able to put the puck right in the top corner of the net.

I had a blast.  Practices with WIHO (and coached by Grant Phillips) have helped me so much.  We were winning 2-1 as the game wound down but the Wendigos turned up the pressure.  Once they pulled their goalie, they were in our zone the entire rest of the game.  It was probably for 90 seconds or less, but it felt longer.  I had an amazing save where both teams thought the Wendigos had scored.  But I felt like a magician as I lifted my glove off the ice.  Voila!  The puck! 

The final game of the series is at 11:00 pm on Wednesday.  Can't wait.

Summary:

Huskies 2 - Wendigos 1
Ø  Huskies – Mark Garvie 1G, Dennis Liu 1G
Ø  Wendigos – Jason Leung 1G
Ø  Saves – Kirsten Rendell 17 & Ka Ming 7
Ø  Three Stars of the Game – 1)Kirsten Rendell 2) Dennis Liu – Game Winner 3) Mark Garvie

Strange photo of me:

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter.  Claire and James colored eggs on Saturday night (thanks, Mom---they used one of the sets of dye which you sent in years past---didn't see any egg dye this year so it's fortunate that we saved it) and were very excited about the Easter bunny's visit.

Sunday morning Claire woke me up at exactly 8 am.  (I told her that I did not want to get up before this---she obviously waited until 8 before coming into our room.)  Claire then had to impatiently wait for James to get up---he slept for another 40 minutes or so.

The Easter bunny picked out very good stuff this year.  The kids were especially happy with their Easter Webkinz.  (Scoring Webkinz for Easter is especially good as you cannot buy them in Hong Kong.  Still.)  Lots of candy and small toys were hidden around the boat---the kids found some more items today.  Claire especially enjoyed the Forest Fairy kit she received---she made 5 beautiful fairies all by herself.  And both kids liked the Moon Ball kit where they made super balls (of sorts---bigger than the average super ball---whatever they are made out of only lasts about 3 weeks before it hardens completely and needs to be thrown out).

A sugar-charged Wii filled day followed the festivities!

Some photos from our Easter: